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From Mississippi to MLB: Forest Hill graduate living the dream as umpire in World Series

He graduated from Forest Hill High School in Jackson in 1985 and attended Mississippi College.

Story Highlights

He worked as an umpire for the Mississippi High School Activities Association.

Lance Barksdale never thought he would be an umpire in baseball.

Barksdale, 52, wanted to be a pitcher in his younger days. That is until he met a man — a well-respected baseball coach in the state of Mississippi — by the name of Bill Perry. As a student at Mississippi College, Barksdale suffered some injuries to his arm.

But while pitching for Mississippi College, Barksdale also began umpiring little league games, according to the Perry.

"He had a good arm but not a great arm and I think he began to see his baseball ability weaning," Perry said. "I was umpiring a game and saw him umpiring on another field. I told him that he needed to look into umpire school."

And Barksdale did. Perry brought him an application to the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School in Ormond Beach, Florida.

"He went there and that's where it all started for him," Perry said. "And to be honest, I don't know if I did very much to help him. That's not being humble, that's being factual. But, seeing him at the level he is now makes me feel good."

Now, Barksdale is calling his first MLB World Series as an umpire. He worked the first game of the World Series Tuesday night when the Houston Astros hosted the Washington Nationals in Game 1.

Barksdale is one of six umpires under Gary Cederstrom, the 2019 MLB World Series crew chief . The umpires are Sam Holbrook, Barksdale, Doug Eddings, James Hoye, Alan Porter and Jim Wolf.

If the series goes to Game 5, Barksdale will call the series from home plate.

Perry said Barksdale is a good umpire who is compliant but will throw coaches out when they cross the line.

"He probably threw out Bobby Cox more than any other coach in Major League Baseball," Perry said. "Barksdale is a very steady guy, has a good strike zone, tolerant of coaches but is not going to let a coach overrun him."

Barksdale was at first base for Greg Maddux's 300th win and Johan Santana's no-hitter. He was behind the plate for Randy Johnson's 20-strikeout game in 2001 and was the first umpire to have his home run call overturned by instant replay.

Barksdale graduated from Forest Hill High School in Jackson in 1985 and attended Mississippi College, where he earned a degree in business. From there, he attended umpire school and began working as an umpire calling Mississippi High School Activities Association games before transitioning to the minor leagues in 1993.

His first year as an MLB umpire came in 2000 before being fully promoted in 2006. Before his jump to the MLB ranks, he worked as an umpire in several minor leagues.

They include: the Appalachian League (1993), the South Atlantic League (1994-95), the Florida State League (1995-96), Florida Instructional League (1996), Southern League (1997), the Pacific Coast League (1998-2005), the Arizona Fall League (1999-2000) and the International League (2006).

In between the busy schedule of MLB regular season and postseason games, Barksdale still manages to make time for his family. He is married to his wife, Jennifer. They have a daughter, Jordan, and a son, Hayden.

"Whenever he gets a free day, like a travel day during the season, 99 percent of the time he's going to fly home to visit his family. He's as good of a dad as he is a baseball umpire."